Saturday, August 24, 2013

Thank You UTAG

This morning I noticed that I had been paid about 3,000 cedis ($1,500). My understanding and it is hard to follow the exactly how the payment system here works is that this is the money that was in arrears from the 2012 market premium. That means that the book and research allowance which is supposed to be doubled from 1,800 cedis ($900) to 3,600 cedis ($1,800) is still outstanding. I got the impression from last Monday's emergency union meeting that the strike would continue until all the money owed to us was paid into our bank accounts. So I think the strike is still on. But, I will try to confirm this on Monday. I will definitely find out before Friday when I am scheduled to teach whether I am to go to class and lecture or not. At any rate I am pretty happy that at least this payment has landed in my bank account this fast. I did not expect to see this money until some time next week. I hope I get the rest of what is owed me soon. But, it is always a good start to a Saturday to find out you have a lot more money than you thought you had in your bank account.

Update: I have confirmed today with my coworkers that the 3,000 Ghana I received is the arrears I was owed, but that the book and research allowance still has not been paid. The UTAG strike will continue until we receive that payment as well. So I am still on strike until I hear otherwise.

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